Civil Engineering student Chris Penn has been awarded the title of Unsung Hero in this year’s annual British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) awards.

In addition to studying for his BEng Civil Engineering degree at Swansea University Chris has donated a lot of free time and effort to the promotion of sport at the University. The BUCS Unsung Hero award recognises an individual that has worked tirelessly and without broader recognition to support student sport at any level.

During his time at Swansea University Chris set up and headed the Athletics Union (AU) Media website, has been heavily involved in the promotion of the annual Swansea/Cardiff Welsh Varsity events, reported on BUCS fixtures and assisted in promoting the efforts of all the University sports teams.

Chris was the editor of the AU’s Varsity newspaper, assisted the events team with regular articles and features to promote Varsity and written a season review for SAIL - Swansea University’s Alumni Magazine.

Chris has also been involved in the world of student media. In addition to working with the AU he has, during the last three years, contributed to The Waterfront (the Student Union paper), Xtreme Radio (Student Union radio station), Swansea City FC, Kukri Sports, Swansea The Wave/Swansea Sound radio station, Crystal Palace FC and Watford FC.

Chris has now assembled a team, which he is offering his experience to, as well as helping them to progress their own media careers.

The BUCS judges said that Chris received the award because he threw himself into the promotion of his institutions sport and student sport as a whole and building a team in order that students can develop their media skills and use university sport as a way to progress their skills and ambitions.

On receiving the award Chris said:

" I felt honoured just to be nominated - but to win the award was just something else. I'm highly honoured to be Swansea's first ever BUCS Award winner. I hope that this could lead to more Swansea award wins in the years to come. I have had some fantastic support from the AU, the University, Kukri Sports and my amazing team."

Imogen Stanley, Swansea University’s Student Union Sports Officer said: 'I would like to offer my congratulations to Chris for all the hard work he has done over the year and look forward to ‘green and white media’ over the coming year.'

Photo caption: Chris Penn receiving his award from former English rugby union rugby player Lewis Moody and a representative from BUCS sponsor PwC.